Pharmacy board takes decisive action in drug war

Fighting drug abuse is a battle that isn't going to end anytime soon. But Hoosiers haven't backed away from the fight.

In the latest salvo, the Indiana Board of Pharmacy has banned four chemical compounds used to make synthetic drugs such as "Spice" and "K2."

Board members passed emergency rules to temporarily amend Indiana's controlled substances law to include the compounds as Schedule I substances.

The new bans will remain in place until next year when legislators could vote to make them permanently illegal.

We expect that the vote will make the temporary ban permanent.

State law lets the pharmacy board pass such rules in order to help law enforcement keep up with synthetic drug compounds as their formulas change.

"Synthetic drug abuse is a major concern to the Board of Pharmacy, and they are working hard to protect consumers from this threat," Nicholas Rhoad, executive director of the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency, said in a statement. "These harmful products can be lethal and are being marketed to and targeted at Indiana's youth. We are collaborating with the authorities to quickly respond to these situations and make sure that these drugs aren't available," Rhoad told the Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly for a story last week.

The pharmacy board took decisive action in choosing to not wait for the legislature to act. This is an important win in the war against drugs.